Since the era of the ancient Roman Olympiads, the dramatic history of sports has seen a long lineage of incredible athletes grace the fields, courses, courts, ranges, pools, rings, mountains, skies, and oceans of the world.  Every sport has its icon, it’s living showpiece, that one incomparable individual that without hesitation, their peers and fans would stack up against history’s best of the best, regardless of the discipline.  All are lasting symbols of their respective disciplines and relative place in the world of sport, and all required are to possess an aura, an “other-worldliness” about them.

Only a tiny handful of people in history have even been considered for the lofty title of “World’s Greatest Athlete”, and these days, one sport’s nominee has begun garnering more and more mentions from observers in and out of it.  You probably know where I’m going with this, but allow me to present my case:

Born in 1972, Robert Kelly Slater learned to surf in the modest beachside town of Cocoa Beach, Florida where there’s an abundance of playful beachbreaks for a young surf grommet to learn his chops, but surf-wise really nothing much to speak of over 5’.  Lots of good surfers had come out of the Sunshine State before him, but it wasn’t exactly known as a hotbed for world beaters.  As all “Right Coasters” must, Kelly persevered in the mostly sloppy conditions, and by the time he was an early teen, people identified something very special about him, a supernatural athleticism, maturity, and competitive drive that went well beyond his years.  His innovative approach featured rail slides, fin drifts, and flashy aerials.  He broke new ground, infusing a sleek new freshness into the sport, his tenacity and consistency quickly attracting the attention of the entire surfing world.  Crabby old surfers like me never gave him a bum’s chance in big Hawaiian surf, and we stubbornly refused to acknowledge what we considered the new “pretty boy” new-school surfing style he represented.  But like all athletes who mature physically, he eventually injected control and function into his style and that finally made converts of us all.  The big closer was when Slater ventured to Hawaii in the mid 80’s and within a few seasons, was charging (and making) huge North Shore barrels like he was fooling around at 3’ Sebastian Inlet, his home break back in ol’ FLA.  After turning professional, he quickly surpassed the older guard, dusted his peer group, schooled the one after, and is now making mincemeat out of the current one.

As of this writing, Slater’s incredible professional resume shows as follows:

• Has won nearly 50 professional contests, taking his first one in 1990, and winning his last one just this past March, 2011.
• Won his first ASP World Championship title in 1992 and his last in 2010. 
• Holds the ASP records as youngest to win the world title at age 20, and the oldest at 38. 
• Owns an unprecedented 10 ASP world titles, and is working on an 11th.
• Has the highest winning percentage of any professional surfer in history.

Slater’s competitive game is finely honed; he knows how to pace himself, how and when to inflate and deflate, how to read the ocean, where to sit in the lineup, what kind of equipment to use, and how to bait, intimidate, and psychologically disarm an opponent, sometimes before a heat even begins.  Some even claim he has a telekinetic bond with the ocean, and can conjure up a heat winning wave at will.  Remember that four separate generations of elite professional surfers have not found a way to stop this man and he seems to have not yet reached his peak. His competitive drive burns with a white-hot intensity and he shows up at every event expecting to win, as do all of his opponents.

His professional exploits help to formalize and scale his greatness, but competitive dossier aside; he is even more remarkable on a purely athletic level during free surfs.  Kelly excels in all kinds of conditions, in locations around the world, in waves of all sizes and shapes from 1 to 30 feet.  He is comfortable in gnarly giant waves despite his formative years in diminutive Florida surf and can still rip the snot out of small gutless surf.  He constantly pushes the boundaries of what is possible, often toying with waves that others struggle to survive in, and chucking radical new maneuvers on the wave face and in the air that are on the absolute cutting edge of surfing, one of the most psychologically and physically demanding sports in the world   If there ever was an athlete who deserved to rest on his laurels, it would be Slater, but he continues to explore, reinvent, and reset performance boundaries at an age when most athletes’ careers are either on a precipitous downswing or long over.  By all indications, he is nowhere near his athletic zenith.  Even now, his body maintains a lithe muscularity, durability, cat-like agility and balance, and an almost unnatural flexibility.  It’s very possible he could stay entrenched at the top of the sport for another 10 years.  How scary is that for the next one or two generations of pro surfers? 

One of my favorite moments in sports television history was back in 1982, when American Olympic gold medal decathlete Bruce Jenner was providing the anchor duties for ABC Sports’ broadcast of the Sunkist World Cup of Surfing on Oahu’s North Shore.  Hawaii surfing legend Fred Hemmings was on hand with Jenner at Sunset Beach to lend his expert color commentary.  At one point, Jenner, tongue firmly planted in cheek, questioned Hemmings on whether or not surfers should be considered legitimate athletes.  That remark sent Hemmings on a spin, firing back that he’d stack pro surfers up against NFL football players any day for overall fitness and conditioning.  Jenner, a bit startled by the outburst, giggled and said, “But I was just kidding Fred!”  Well, Fred was not, and his reaction mirrors how even today surfers may be the most underrated athletes in sports. 

Take a moment and try to think of another athlete, ANY athlete, alive or not, who has singularly dominated four full generations of their sport by such a wide margin, while clearly continuing to set performance barriers and remain competitively razor sharp while approaching middle age.  Don’t feel bad if you can’t, because I can’t either.  And so at nearly 40, Kelly Slater defies Father Time and the sporting public’s archaic perceptions as he rewrites the record books, doing it all with a refreshingly self-effacing humility, free of the kind of arrogance and sense of entitlement you see from many of today’s blow-hard professional athletes who haven’t accomplished even a third of what he has.  If you’re reading this, and you’re a surfer or just a sports fan, consider yourself very fortunate to live in an era where you could see him in the flesh.  The world may never see a mercurial talent like him again. 

No, his surfing style wasn’t, and to a certain extent still isn’t my cup of tea, but I gotta give it up to the kid and say it out loud; Kelly Slater is the best athlete in the world …possibly the best ever.

*Special thanks to Sean Davey for his contribution to this article.  Sean is one the top surf/sports/lifestyle photographers in the world (good bloke too), and you can browse and purchase his incredible images at www.seandavey.com.

TONS OF SURF ACTION COMING UP IN JULY ON OCEANIC SURF CHANNEL!

• 2010 Vans Triple Crown of Surfing highlights shows produced by Windowseat Pictures revisits the high energy on the beach and in the water during last winter’s contest season on Oahu’s North Shore. 
  
  
• Replay of the 2011 Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro from Lower Trestles in San Clemente, California.  Hawaii’s Keanu Asing takes the win in the Oakley Pro Junior, and Brazilian darkhorse Miguel Pupo sneaks under a formidable international field of surfers to take the 2011 N6LP crown.
   

• The last ever Hawaiian Islands Vintage Surf Auction will be live broadcasted in HD on Oceanic SURF Channel on Saturday, July 23rd starting at 3pm.  Held at the Blaisdell Exhibition Center, hosts Randy Rarick and David Stanfield invite you on a guided tour of surfing’s storied past in the form of classic surf art, memorabilia, assorted oddities, and beautifully restored vintage surfboards from around the world.  It’s gonna be bitchin’!!!